Let's play another round of "How Long Can You Hide from the Internet?"
December 22, 2009 2:53 PM   Subscribe

perennial mefi favorites* threadless got robbed for the second time. the culprits apparently took everything from their machines down to the essential bag of chocolate coffee beans. only they forgot to disable the security camera and so here are their pictures. they are offering a $1000 reward to the first person who can accurately identify either of the two men.

there's more to the reward actually:
If you are the person who identifies these individuals, the reward is $1000.
If you are the person who told that person about this search, you get $500.
If you are the person who told the person who told that person about this search, you get $250.
And so on... $125, $50, $50. So spread the word! (We're going up to the second $50 reward... 5 levels deep)
(link)

They are asking for serious leads to be emailed to christmaselves@threadless.com

And this is important: one of the dudes apparently is violent and "nuts," so please don't just approach them about this, mmkay?


*every time I see pictures from a meetup at least one person is wearing a threadless tee. don't even try denying your love for them.
posted by krautland (43 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Honestly, while this is kind of an interesting developing-thing-related-to-the-web in some respects, the actual story is pretty thin at the moment and the post reads kind of like advocacy stuff. krautland, I don't know what your connection to this is, but it feels like it's a little too close and inside-baseball for comfort. -- cortex



 
And this is important: one of the dudes apparently is violent and "nuts," so please don't just approach them about this, mmkay?

If anyone gets hurt, there's always medical advice via Ask Metafilter.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:57 PM on December 22, 2009 [11 favorites]


Crap. I just ordered some stuff from them and realized I had entered the wrong address. I sent them a support email about it, but I hope they'll be able to respond.
posted by brundlefly at 3:01 PM on December 22, 2009


there's always medical advice via Ask Metafilter.
I don't even want to think about what kind of diseases that blonde dude might have.
posted by krautland at 3:02 PM on December 22, 2009


Wow; those pictures are great.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 3:03 PM on December 22, 2009


This might be better in MetaTalk, no?
posted by fixedgear at 3:03 PM on December 22, 2009


This might be better in MetaTalk, no?

Perhaps, but the readership of the Blue is much wider, so there's a greater chance of successful identification if it's posted here.
posted by hippybear at 3:05 PM on December 22, 2009


Aww, that sucks. I like threadless a lot (I'm wearing one of their shirts right now, in fact), so I hope they catch the guys who did this. I'd love to see the look on their faces if they see this news story - I'm surprised they got photos as clear as that off CCTV, so this looks like it has a chance of actually working.

(In other news, WindyCitizen are still at large after nicking their site design wholesale from a Certain Social Networking Site That Shall Remain Nameless...)
posted by ZsigE at 3:07 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


Best of luck to Threadless on this one. I've avoided their site since I moved to Europe to avoid, you know, torturing myself, but I'm actually wearing the last one I bought right now.
posted by bettafish at 3:09 PM on December 22, 2009


Those are really good photos. Seems like there's a pretty good chance the dudes involved will go to jail, which is great.
posted by grobstein at 3:10 PM on December 22, 2009


Did one of them really commit a robbery while wearing headphones?
posted by kickingtheground at 3:10 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


If you are the person who told that person about this search, you get $500.
If you are the person who told the person who told that person about this search, you get $250.


Mmm....so we could all maybe get a cut of this?
posted by availablelight at 3:11 PM on December 22, 2009


I admit, I wore a Threadless shirt to my last meetup. Those photos are a lot clearer than I thought security cam pictures would be. Hope they catch them.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:15 PM on December 22, 2009


The bald headed guy looks, erm, special. Or at least, half of his face does not want to do whatever the other halve is doing...
posted by autoclavicle at 3:15 PM on December 22, 2009


Mmm....so we could all maybe get a cut of this?

Don't spend it all in one place.
posted by cmgonzalez at 3:16 PM on December 22, 2009


where is the actual report of the crime taking place? not that i think threadless is lying, but wtf actually happened?
posted by ninjew at 3:17 PM on December 22, 2009


kickingtheground : Did one of them really commit a robbery while wearing headphones?

The kind of stupid that has someone committing a crime and not being aware that there might be a camera is exactly the same kind of stupid that would limit their hearing when engaging in a criminal endeavor.

But then, we hear about dumb criminals because they are the ones that tend to get caught and dragged through the press.
posted by quin at 3:21 PM on December 22, 2009


Yeah, where does it say they were robbed? It's not even a case of Threadless potentially lying because this MetaFilter post is the only article where it even hints that they've done something wrong. The original Threadless post calls them "Christmas elves". For all I know, they may just be testing the ability of the Internet to find people.
posted by ErWenn at 3:22 PM on December 22, 2009


Or at least, half of his face does not want to do whatever the other halve is doing...

That is the face of someone trying to dig something out from between their molars with their tongue.
posted by quin at 3:23 PM on December 22, 2009


heh. that's how MIT won the DARPA challenge. Smart.
posted by Lutoslawski at 3:24 PM on December 22, 2009 [3 favorites]


More photos
posted by Anything at 3:27 PM on December 22, 2009


A bit more info at hackernews. The guy responding is this dude:
Sorry dudes, we were told by the police that we cannot release any information as to _why_ we want to track these guys down. They said that in situations in the past, people have been sued for defamation.
So weird. And I wonder where krautland got the add'l info from.
posted by smackfu at 3:28 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


Also, where's the information about one of the guys being violent? I feel like I'm missing something here.
posted by specialagentwebb at 3:29 PM on December 22, 2009


Where is threadless even located? It really helps a search if you give details about location.
posted by mulligan at 3:29 PM on December 22, 2009


After seeing this, I think I found the culprits.
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 3:31 PM on December 22, 2009 [3 favorites]


Where is threadless even located? It really helps a search if you give details about location.

"If you can identify either of these Chicago Area people..."
posted by gman at 3:32 PM on December 22, 2009


They sort of look alike. I wonder if they're father and son; you know, like Git-R-Dun and Psycho.
posted by Anything at 3:32 PM on December 22, 2009


kickingtheground: "Did one of them really commit a robbery while wearing headphones?"

If it's good enough for Abigail Whistler, it's good enough for me.
posted by brundlefly at 3:33 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


"I wonder where krautland got the add'l info from"

The "one of them is crazy and violent!" thing is probably just some BS information that occurred along the way of transmission from some other forum they are on, a la the game of telephone. It's pretty clear that while Threadless has been advised by police not to say WHY exactly they are looking for them that it involves a criminal matter, probably relating to the business and its' property.
posted by autoclavicle at 3:39 PM on December 22, 2009


Good Lord, they sure look like mental giants, don't they?
posted by Michael Roberts at 3:40 PM on December 22, 2009


$1000? Isn't this a million dollar company? What a bunch of cheapskates.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 3:40 PM on December 22, 2009


anyway, the ex-CTO accidentally Twittered that "Threadless got robbed again"
posted by autoclavicle at 3:42 PM on December 22, 2009


I dunno. Those photos are kinda blurry. Can they be enhanced?
posted by chillmost at 3:44 PM on December 22, 2009 [4 favorites]


I live in Chicago and visited the Threadless office a few years back. While inside, I took a few pictures (self-link, but hoping it counts as on-topic).
posted by avoision at 3:58 PM on December 22, 2009


From the comments at that page:
Here is the dope from EveryBlock.com:

Burglary at commercial loft offices

Four tenants were hit last night in this building. Please click the link to look at the photos in the security footage and see if you know them. One tenant is offering a reward.

http://www.threadless.com/news/536659/Identify_these_Christmas_elves_for...
4043 N. Ravenswood
Date posted December 21, 2009
Posted by kr31

posted by inigo2 at 4:13 PM on December 22, 2009


I have never seen their building, but loft buildings can often be really easy to rob. I know of one instance in Brooklyn where the thieves broke into one space, then simply cut through the wall of each successive space.
posted by R. Mutt at 4:19 PM on December 22, 2009


Having seen avoision's pictures of their offices, I'd say these guys deserved a beat-down, as well as a robbery
posted by Flashman at 4:37 PM on December 22, 2009


This guy's named Mickey and he robbed Bret and Jemaine, but be careful, apparently he's a psycho killer, qu'est-ce que c'est.
posted by Kattullus at 4:40 PM on December 22, 2009


heh. that's how MIT won the DARPA challenge. Smart.

Yeah, to me that's what makes this FPP worthy.
posted by Artw at 4:44 PM on December 22, 2009


Kattullus - I really miss that monkey.
posted by Artw at 4:45 PM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]


where does it say they were robbed? It's not even a case of Threadless potentially lying because this MetaFilter post is the only article where it even hints that they've done something wrong.
I am the one stating they got robbed and I would not have done so were I not sure. which means I have enough knowledge about this to attach my name to this post. I hope that is good enough for you.

So weird. And I wonder where krautland got the add'l info from.
your police line is just why I hesitated revealing that. but alas, I don't mind being sued for defamation myself. let'em try.

Where is threadless (...) located?
chicago. I thought everyone knew that.

The "one of them is crazy and violent!" thing is probably just some BS information that occurred along the way of transmission from some other forum they are on
no.
posted by krautland at 4:53 PM on December 22, 2009


Artw: "Yeah, to me that's what makes this FPP worthy."

If only the FPP said anything about MIT and DARPA and the method they won it.

krautland: "I am the one stating they got robbed and I would not have done so were I not sure. which means I have enough knowledge about this to attach my name to this post. I hope that is good enough for you."

Agh, now I hate this post. MetaFilter isn't your own blog. It isn't the front page of your personal newspaper. It isn't a way for you to make $250 because hundreds of people saw krautland's name on it. It's about links, and these links kinda suck.
posted by Plutor at 5:03 PM on December 22, 2009 [4 favorites]


*Shrug*

Take it to MetaTalk or STFU.
posted by Artw at 5:19 PM on December 22, 2009


I don't care about making any cash. I thought the response to the event was worth an FPP. you disagree. such is life.
posted by krautland at 5:23 PM on December 22, 2009


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